The Block on The Hill Where Everything Seems to Be For Sale

• July 10, 2014

by Lark Turner

A set of rowhouses on a block on the northeast edge of Capitol Hill are falling like dominoes.

Six of the 15 rowhouses on the west side of the 300 block of 14th Street NE (map) have been listed and sold in less than a year. The set of houses, built in 1913, are mostly two-bedroom, one- or 1.5-bath rowhouses with a similar or even identical layout: A fireplace and living room when you walk in, a kitchen in the back, a staircase, and two bedrooms upstairs divided by a bathroom. But out back they hide a surprise: Most have a deep backyard with a deck or patio and a parking pad.

Pam Wye of TTR Sotherby’s International Realty had a client that purchased 326 14th Street NE this spring.

“It’s a really nice pocket,” Wye said of the hard-to-characterize neighborhood. “It feels like a nice residential street and has a nice scale to it. I think it’s appealing because you’re nestled between Lincoln Park, which is quintessential Capitol Hill, and then in the other direction, you’re really close to H Street.”

The high rate of turnover, Wye suggested, may be due to the relatively small size of the homes.

“For a lot of people, they’re sort of a 7-year house, with the idea that at some point, they are going to outgrow that space,” she said.

The homes are also likely attracting buyers who may be priced out of larger, nearby rowhouses that are in the $700,000 to $800,000 range. Buyers of the two-bedroom homes on 14th are on a tighter budget, but are still more interested in a neighborhood house than a condo.

Beyond the market permutations, the home sales are also an interesting study in pricing and demand. Here’s a rundown of the sales:

310 14th Street NE

By far the largest and nicest of the houses, this one unsurprisingly sold for the heftiest price. It’s also semi-detached.

• Under Contract: May 2014
• Specs: Two bed, 2.5 bath
• Square Feet: 1,588
• Listed: $599,000
• Sold: $661,825
• Days on Market: 7

312 14th Street NE

This home is also larger, and includes the coveted full second bathroom, but it was not quite as up-to-date as its neighbor to the south.

• Under Contract: November 2013
• Specs: Two bed, two bath
• Square Feet: 1,040
• Listed: $489,000
• Sold: $489,000
• Days on Market: 7

318 14th Street NE

A new rear addition creating a very large master bedroom gave this listing a boost, though it spent about six weeks on the market.

• Under Contract: September 2013
• Specs: Two bed, two bath
• Square Feet: 1,456
• Listed: $599,900
• Sold: $595,000
• Days on Market: 47 days

322 14th Street NE

Despite having one of the nicest kitchens of the bunch, this much-smaller home spent the longest amount of time on the market at 49 days.

• Under Contract: December 2013
• Specs: Two bed, one bath
• Square Feet: 972
• Listed: $500,000
• Sold: $497,500
• Days on Market: 49 days

324 14th Street NE

This home has the most open-concept layout of the homes that hit the market, with a stripped-down interior and an updated kitchen. But the renovation may not have appealed to everyone’s taste.

• Under Contract: February 2014
• Specs: Two bed, one bath
• Square Feet: 832
• Listed: $479,000
• Sold: $485,000
• Days on Market: 16

326 14th Street NE

Of all the homes on the block that have sold in the last year, this quaint one spent the least amount of time on the market. It has a spacious mudroom-like addition off the back and retained some original details, including woodwork, though the kitchen could use an update.

• Under Contract: February 2014
• Specs: Two bed, one bath
• Square Feet: 928
• Listed: $499,900
• Sold: $513,600
• Days on Market: 6

Photos courtesy HomeVisit

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_300_block_of_14th_street_ne_where_six_houses_have_sold_in_less_than_a_y/8720